People mistaken for monkeys, innocent singers being muddled up with convicted sex offenders, here are some of the weirdest, funniest and partly disturbing cases of mistaken identity

Suits you, sir: A man was hospitalised after a vet shot him with a tranquilliser dart

From chimp to chump

The gorilla costume was only supposed to fool the fellow primates in Tenerife's Loro Parque.

But apparently during a training exercise on what to do if one of the animals escaped, no one told the vet that beneath the fur was in fact a 35-year-old worker and he duly fired his tranquilliser dart at him, believing him to be real.

Thankfully, despite the shot being enough to down a 400lb beast, the man was released unharmed from hospital.

But not all cases of mistaken identity end up so lucky, as these unfortunate and sometimes horrific cases show.

Some other Guy

In 2006 Guy Goma , an economics and business studies graduate from the Congo, turned up at the BBC for a job interview.

But a producer for News 24 looking for an IT expert to appear on the show went to the wrong reception at the BBC Television Centre in West London, and when he asked Mr Goma if he was Guy Kewney, he answered in the affirmative and was taken to the studio.

There, he attempted to answer several questions live on air about a court case involving Apple and it was only later the case of mistaken identity was realised.

Mr Goma later said his appearance was “very stressful” and wondered why the questions were not about the data support cleanser job he'd gone for.

It Disney look like her

In 2010 Abby Guerra, 19, and Marlena Cantu, 21, were involved in a horrific car accident on their way back from Disneyland to their homes in Arizona.

It was believed Guerra died at the scene , while Cantu survived, and her parents were told the tragic news shortly afterwards.

But days later, as they planned their daughter's funeral, their joy at being told she was in fact alive was negated by the agony of Cantu's parents who only realised they'd been keeping a bedside vigil at the wrong bedside. Six days later swelling in the patient's face reduced revealing her to be Guerra, and not Cantu – who had died.

Abby Guerra (Pic:Splashnews.com)

The False Prophet

Vile child abuser Ian Watkins' crimes shocked the nation after it was revealed he'd attempted to rape a baby among 13 other horrific offences.

During the trial and sentencing in December – the Lost Prophets singer, 36, was locked up for 35 years – people poured their disgust out across social networks.

One Facebook posting read: "Dirty vile scum need to be shot after what you did to them kids, and to think of all the parents that trusted you!!"

It didn't help when online showbiz magazine E! Online used the innocent 38-year-old's photo to accompany their story, tweeting it out to their five million followers either.

PA

Not funny: Ian Watkins

An unlikely friendship

In 1984 Jennifer Thompson, a 22-year-old college student, was raped by a man in her home in Burlington, North Carolina.

Looking through police mugshots Thompson identified Ronald Cotton as the man who attacked her, and again in a line-up.

When police discovered Cotton had been accused of sexual assault when he was 16, after the mother of his then-girlfriend found them in bed together, the authorities were sure they had their man.

Cotton was convicted. But in 1987 Bobby Poole, another prisoner, admitted being the real rapist, Cotton was retried. In court, Thompson testified she had never seen had never seen Poole and Cotton was convicted again, given two life sentences.

But in 1995, DNA evidence was tested revealing Cotton was innocent and Poole was the assailant.

Incredibly, Cotton forgave Thompson for the mistaken identity and the two became good friends.

LAPD booboo

5. Last year South California residents were put under lockdown after former Navy reservist and Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner turned rogue and went on a shooting rampage, killing four people – including two police officers.

Dorner had posted a manifesto including the name of several police officers, making the cops chasing him edgy.

So when they saw a 4x4 matching Dorner's description near the house of an officer on his manifesto, they took no chances and fired 102 shots at the truck without checking who was inside.

If they had, they would have seen it was 71-year-old Emma Hernandez and her daughter Margie Carranza, 47, who were out delivering newspapers.

The pair, who survived, were later awarded £2.5 million in damages by the LAPD.

Whitney who?

But in fact she was in hospital with severe injuries, while Laura had passed away in the accident.

Even the families were convinced, such was the similarity of the women's appearance.

Laura's family kept a bedside vigil and only realised it was Whitney once her face injuries went down. Meanwhile, Whitney's funeral took place attended by 1,400 people in her hometown of Gaylord, Michigan.

No DNA test had been done, and no one had identified the body. The mistaken identity was caused after a paramedic found Laura's purse next to Whitney.

YouTube

Whitney Cerak (l) and Laura Van Ryn

Store wars

Twitter is ripe for cases of mistaken identity.

Poor computer science professor John Lewis, from Blacksburg, Virginia, frequently fends of enquiries and complaints to @johnlewis that are meant for the British retailer at @johnlewisretail. Recently, when @katersangel wrote: “Loving my free coffee and cake! Thanks @johnlewis you are the best!” he replied: “Thanks. I agree. But I never said the coffee and cake were free. Perhaps @johnlewisretail did, but they're reckless like that.”

Same with Will H Smith, whose twitter handle @whsmith constantly gets confused with the stationers, @W_H_Smith.

Someone even tweeted: “If your name's Will H Smith and you opt for th Twitter name @whsmith you're a bit of a wally getting angry with those assuming you're a shop,” without realising that as an American, poor Will would know little about the British institution.